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Conflicting views on professional development. Critical dialogue as a research and intervention method for a Master’s course in professional education for teachers

Author:

Gaby Jacobs

Fontys University of Applied Sciences, NL

About Gaby

Dr Gaby Jacobs is a Professor at Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Eindhoven and Tilburg) and Assistant Professor in Education at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands. In addition, she is the principal investigator in the four-year project entitled The Pedagogical Professional in the Spotlight, funded by RAAK-SIA. She is also currently chair of the knowledge centre Implementation and Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing.

Abstract

Conflicting views on professional development. Critical dialogue as a research and intervention method for a Master’s course in professional education for teachers
Higher education professionals in the 21st century are facing the challenge of how to deliver good work in ever more complex circumstances. Good work is a moral issue; it refers to the higher goal of education in society. However, developments in the last decades have tended to push the moral dimension of professional work into the background. Higher education has increasingly become “instrumentalized”, and the result is teaching staff that find it difficult to recognize, articulate, and deal with the moral questions and dilemmas that they face when working with students.
In this contribution, we propose a dialogic approach to understanding the educational goals of professionals in higher education. Our method is based on Bohm’s dialogic approach – to discover the tacit beliefs, values and attitudes of participants and reconstruct them through the process
of collective storytelling – and Burbules’ and Smaling’s plea for a critical dialogue. We will discuss a dialogic research and development project within a teacher education department for special educational needs at a university of applied sciences in the Netherlands. The participants in the
dialogue meetings shared their views on professional development and the dialogue helped to co-reveal and construct the tacit tensions between these views. We will describe the main tension, between the development of expertise based on a strong knowledge and skills base on the one hand, and the development of a critical inquiring attitude for which no specific knowledge is required, on the other hand. We will offer a notion of dialogic professionalism in order to integrate these views.
Conflicterende visies op professionele ontwikkeling. Kritische dialoog als onderzoeks- en interventiemethode in een masteropleiding voor onderwijsprofessionals
Professionals die werkzaam zijn in het hoger onderwijs in de 21e eeuw zien zich geplaatst voor de uitdaging hoe goed werk te verrichten in groeiende complexe omstandigheden. Goed werk is een morele kwestie, die verwijst naar het hogere doel van onderwijs in de samenleving. In de
afgelopen decennia is de morele dimensie van dit werk echter naar de achtergrond geschoven.
Het hoger onderwijs is in toenemende mate instrumenteel geworden, hetgeen resulteert in onderwijspersoneel dat nog nauwelijks in staat is om de morele vraagstukken en dilemma’s die zij tegenkomen in het werken met studenten, te herkennen, te articuleren en ermee om te gaan.
In deze bijdrage stellen we een dialogische benadering voor om inzicht te verkrijgen in de onderwijsdoelen van opleiders in het hoger onderwijs. Onze methode is gebaseerd op Bohm’s
dialogische benadering – waarin het gaat om het ontdekken van stilzwijgende opvattingen, waarden en attitudes van deelnemers en de reconstructie daarvan in een proces van verhalen delen – en het pleidooi van onder meer Burbules en Smaling voor een kritische dialoog. We gaan in op een dialogisch onderzoeks- en ontwikkelproject in een opleidingscentrum voor speciale onderwijszorg in Nederland. De deelnemers in de dialoogbijeenkomsten gingen met elkaar in gesprek over hun visies op professionele ontwikkeling en de dialoog hielp hen om onuitgesproken spanningen tussen deze visies op het spoor te komen en expliciet te maken. We gaan in op de belangrijkste spanning tussen de ontwikkeling van expertise die een sterke kennis- en vaardighedenbasis veronderstelt enerzijds, en de ontwikkeling van een kritisch onderzoekende houding en beoordelingsvermogen waarvoor geen specifieke inhoudelijke kennis is vereist, anderzijds. We stellen een concept van dialogische professionaliteit voor om deze twee noties te integreren.

How to Cite:
Jacobs, G., 2013. Conflicting views on professional development. Critical dialogue as a research and intervention method for a Master’s course in professional education for teachers. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice, 22(3), pp.4–22. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

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Jacobs, G., 2013. Conflicting views on professional development. Critical dialogue as a research and intervention method for a Master’s course in professional education for teachers. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice, 22(3), pp.4–22. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

Jacobs G. Conflicting views on professional development. Critical dialogue as a research and intervention method for a Master’s course in professional education for teachers. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice. 2013;22(3):4–22. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

Jacobs, G. (2013). Conflicting views on professional development. Critical dialogue as a research and intervention method for a Master’s course in professional education for teachers. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice, 22(3), 4–22. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

Jacobs G, ‘Conflicting Views on Professional Development. Critical Dialogue as a Research and Intervention Method for a Master’s Course in Professional Education for Teachers’ (2013) 22 Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice 4 DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

Jacobs, Gaby. 2013. “Conflicting Views on Professional Development. Critical Dialogue as a Research and Intervention Method for a Master’s Course in Professional Education for Teachers”. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice 22 (3): 4–22. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

Jacobs, Gaby. “Conflicting Views on Professional Development. Critical Dialogue as a Research and Intervention Method for a Master’s Course in Professional Education for Teachers”. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice 22, no. 3 (2013): 4–22. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342

Jacobs, G.. “Conflicting Views on Professional Development. Critical Dialogue as a Research and Intervention Method for a Master’s Course in Professional Education for Teachers”. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice, vol. 22, no. 3, 2013, pp. 4–2. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/jsi.342